HANOI, July 14, 1999 (Reuters) - Vietnam on Wednesday scolded the United States for trying to impose its human rights values on other countries and urged Washington to cooperate on unresolved wartime issues.
The Foreign Ministry, in a statement following bilateral talks earlier this week on human rights and religion, also indicated communist-ruled Vietnam would ignore a U.S. request that certain prisoners be freed.
Vietnamese officials held talks on Monday and Tuesday in Hanoi with Bennett Freeman, U.S. deputy assistant secretary in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor along with Robert Seiple, U.S. ambassador at large for religious affairs.
``Vietnam repeated its principle for dialogue based on... non-interference in each others' internal affairs,'' the ministry statement said.
``(Vietnam) emphasized that it's unacceptable for America to try to impose its law on other countries...,'' it added, referring to a U.S. law passed last year that calls for sanctions on countries engaged in religious persecution.
Hanoi, which tolerates little dissent, is regularly criticised by some Western governments for its poor human rights record and restrictions on religion.
Vietnam rejects those accusations and denies people are jailed for their religious or political beliefs.
Freeman told Reuters on Tuesday he had handed over a list of prisoners of conscience whom Washington wanted released and he urged Hanoi to improve human rights conditions.
In a February report, the U.S. State Department cited sources that put the number of prisoners held for political reasons in Vietnam at between 100 and 150. Rights group Amnesty International put the figure at 40, the report said.
The Foreign Ministry statement also referred to U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, which ended in 1975.
It said Washington should cooperate in dealing with problems associated with the chemical defoliant Agent Orange, which was sprayed over parts of Vietnam to stop infiltration by communist forces using jungle cover during operations.
Attempts by Hanoi to get compensation from the U.S. for people believed to have suffered from exposure to Agent Orange have stalled. Washington has said the issue needed more study.